South Chicago District Officers Brian Stoyak and Harold Mason, with other district officers who helped pull victims from a South Deering car crash Monday night.

South Chicago District Officers Brian Stoyak and Harold Mason, with other district officers who helped pull victims from a South Deering car crash Monday night. ((WGN-TV))

William Lee and Liam FordTribune reporters

Two Chicago Police Department beat officers pulled one man from the back of a burning BMW minutes after it collided with another car late Monday, killing two others in the BMW and seriously injuring two men in the other car.

The crash happened about 11:53 p.m. Monday, just west of a bridge over the Calumet River in the 3200 block of East 100th Street in the South Deering neighborhood.

The white BMW was headed west on 100th Street and had just crossed the bridge when its driver apparently lost control and it began sliding sideways into eastbound lanes, then collided with a Ford Taurus that was headed east, police said.

The two people killed were a man, 32, believed to have been driving the BMW, and his front-seat passenger, a woman about age 27, authorities said. The driver was declared dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 12:48 a.m. today, and the woman was declared dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 12:51 a.m.

The 29-year-old driver of the Taurus and his passenger, a man about age 27, were both hospitalized at Stroger Hospital in serious-but-stable condition, police said.

South Chicago District Officers Brian Stoyak and Harold Mason were able to save a man who was a back-seat passenger in the BMW after they spotted the car on fire as they drove on their beat late Monday, they told WGN-TV.

The partners were driving east on 100th when they spotted the BMW on fire, pulled up and saw people trapped inside, Mason said. They radioed to police dispatch, calling for more officers and Chicago Fire Department emergency crews.

"There was a lot of flames, smoke," Stoyak said. "People yelling, screaming. The guy in the back was screaming for his life."

The man appeared to be having trouble breathing, so Stoyak and Mason pulled the man halfway out of the car so he could get oxygen as they waited for rescue crews to arrive. Other South Chicago officers soon arrived and were able to help pull the other pinned people out of the car, Mason said.

The back-seat passenger was taken to Northwestern Memorial, where he was recovering in serious but stable condition, police said.

The crash is being handled by the police Major Accident Investigation Unit.